Wednesday, November 2, 2005, I left my car at Lewisville Transmission (@ 7:30 in the morning) to have a mechanic determine why I was once again having problems with the transmission, that had been in their shop twice since March, 2005.
My specific instructions to Tim Martin (the owner) at 8:59 am on Wednesday was to "look at the car, determine what the problem is, call me back with the analysis and how much it will cost, if anything, to repair, and depending on the cost, I will determine at that time if I can repair the car or if it will have to wait until I have the funds.
I did not hear anything back from Tim on Wednesday. I called him Thursday at 11:30 to get an update. During the call, he told me that he was waiting for the dealership to call him back with the cost of the parts. He put me on hold twice thinking that the call coming in was from the dealership. I told him that when he gets his information, to call me back with the repair estimate. He said ok.
I called him back at 1:23 pm for an update. At this time he informs me that the car is ready to be picked up. Total cost is $1700.00 for an oxygen sensor & lockout solenoid. I was stunned because this was not the news I was expecting to hear. I was expecting to get the "estimate only".
I told him that I did not authorize him to do the work and that he will immediately need to remove the parts that he put on because I am not prepared to spend that type of money and because he did not show me consideration by doing what I had asked him to do in the first place. He told me that he would not/could not remove the parts.
I asked him why did he do the repair without my authorization. He responded with "I told you whatever the cost was, I would work with you". That statement does not constitute an authorization or an agreement. It is just him letting me know that hopefully he was not going to charge me another 3,000.00 again. I never verbally agreed to the work and I definitely did not sign anything such as a work order, estimate, etc.
In preparing my documents for small claims court, I am taking his yellow pages advertisement which boldly states "FREE ESTIMATES".
My question is, how can he legally get away with keeping my car when he has nothing in writing from me. As a matter of fact, Tim is a new owner of the shop, and because I dropped the car off before opening hours, he has never seen me. Our conversations were over the phone.
My specific instructions to Tim Martin (the owner) at 8:59 am on Wednesday was to "look at the car, determine what the problem is, call me back with the analysis and how much it will cost, if anything, to repair, and depending on the cost, I will determine at that time if I can repair the car or if it will have to wait until I have the funds.
I did not hear anything back from Tim on Wednesday. I called him Thursday at 11:30 to get an update. During the call, he told me that he was waiting for the dealership to call him back with the cost of the parts. He put me on hold twice thinking that the call coming in was from the dealership. I told him that when he gets his information, to call me back with the repair estimate. He said ok.
I called him back at 1:23 pm for an update. At this time he informs me that the car is ready to be picked up. Total cost is $1700.00 for an oxygen sensor & lockout solenoid. I was stunned because this was not the news I was expecting to hear. I was expecting to get the "estimate only".
I told him that I did not authorize him to do the work and that he will immediately need to remove the parts that he put on because I am not prepared to spend that type of money and because he did not show me consideration by doing what I had asked him to do in the first place. He told me that he would not/could not remove the parts.
I asked him why did he do the repair without my authorization. He responded with "I told you whatever the cost was, I would work with you". That statement does not constitute an authorization or an agreement. It is just him letting me know that hopefully he was not going to charge me another 3,000.00 again. I never verbally agreed to the work and I definitely did not sign anything such as a work order, estimate, etc.
In preparing my documents for small claims court, I am taking his yellow pages advertisement which boldly states "FREE ESTIMATES".
My question is, how can he legally get away with keeping my car when he has nothing in writing from me. As a matter of fact, Tim is a new owner of the shop, and because I dropped the car off before opening hours, he has never seen me. Our conversations were over the phone.
